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Windows has a long and honorable history of including advanced tools and options that help unlock the operating system’s full potential.

In this first installment of a series of articles on these tools, you’ll see how a few easy tweaks can give you two-click access to hundreds of Windows’ most powerful features.

Accessing and understanding Administrative Tools

From XP on, Windows has come with a built-in suite of professional-quality, system-management utilities found collectively under the Administrative Tools menu. These apps are used to adjust and control many essential functions and features of the operating system.

Some of the tools are roughly the same across all current Windows versions. Other tools are version- and/or edition-specific. Each major tool contains many additional subtools and functions — a gold mine of powerful utilities buried in your operating system. Since you’ve already paid for them, why not spend some time learning how to use ’em?

In this article, I’ll point out the major tools and explain what they do. But first, take a look to see what admin tools are built into your edition of Windows. There are two common ways to do this.

The long-form method is to click through various Control Panel menus and submenus:

There’s a better way, however. To make access to these tools more convenient, simply add the Administrative Tools menu to the right-hand pane of your Start menu. Then they’re just two clicks away: Start/Administrative Tools.

The following screen shots show how this is done in Windows 7, but the process is essentially the same for XP and Vista. (I’ll provide more information on those OSes in a moment.)

Figure 3. Scroll down the list of custom options to System administrative tools and select Display on the All Programs menu and the Start menu. That's all it takes!

Figure 4. Now, whenever you open your Start menu, one click opens the Administrative Tools list. (Win7 Ultimate shown; your version and edition of Windows may show different tools.)

Figure 5. This procedure also adds the admin Tools to the All Programs portion of the Start Menu, should you find that means of access more convenient (Win7's tools shown).

Most Windows Secrets readers are using Windows 7, so I’ll focus primarily on its administrative tools. Vista’s tools are nearly identical, and even some of XP’s are the same. If you need more specific information for Vista and XP, Microsoft describes Vista’s Administrative Tools on the Help & How-to page, “What are Administrative Tools;” you’ll find XP’s on a related site.

A capsule summary of Administrative Tools’ tools

Here’s the quick overview of Win7’s administrative tools, in alphabetical order — the way they’re shown in Figures 4 and 5. I’ve also included the links to the best and most authoritative Microsoft explanations and definitions, so you can start digging in right away, if you want.

Note that while some of the tools are highly specialized and pretty geeky, others can be of use to most serious Windows users. In the following list, I’ve called out those tools of special interest to those of us who do troubleshooting and repair work on our own PCs — and on other people’s.

Component Services: Although this tool comes first alphabetically, it is admittedly one of the geekier offerings. Highly specialized, Component Services lets you configure and administer Component Object Model components, COM+ applications, and the Distributed Transaction Coordinator. (If you’ve never heard of any of these, you’ll probably want to skip Component Services.) You can read more on the TechNet page, “Overview of Component Services administration.”

Computer management: An extremely powerful troubleshooting and setup tool, Computer Management lets you manage local or remote computers in many ways, including these:

Monitor system events, such as sign-in times and application errors

Create and manage shared resources

View a list of users who are connected to a local or remote computer

Start and stop system services such as Task Scheduler and Indexing Service

Data Sources (ODBC): Another more advanced tool, Data Sources lets you use Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) to move data from one type (source) of database to another.
MSDN has good introductory information in its article, “What is ODBC?” and in a related background article, “Why was ODBC created?” MSDN offers more advanced how-to information, starting on the “Open the ODBC Data Source administrator” page.

Event Viewer: A great troubleshooting tool, the Event Viewer can show you detailed information about important system events such as crashes, programs that don’t start properly, security issues, and so on. Microsoft has additional information on a Win7 info page.

iSCSI Initiator: iSCSI (pronounced “eye-scuzzy”) is a way of connecting different kinds of storage devices (discs, CD or DVDs, tape, etc.) over a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a storage area network (SAN), or over the regular Internet. Microsoft has general info its iSCSI Help & How-to page and detailed tech info on the “Microsoft iSCSI Initiator step-by-step guide” page.

Local Security Policy: Among other things, LSP lets you refine the (sometimes annoying) way Windows User Account Control (UAC) works and lets you make some changes that are simply not possible in the standard UAC settings dialog box! Find more on LSP in its TechNet Tip page.

Memory Diagnostics Tool: When RAM goes bad, your whole setup is undermined. You can run this tool on demand (or when Windows tells you it’s detected a memory problem) to help track down RAM troubles. This MS Win7 Help & How-to page has details.

Print Management: This tool lets you see and control what’s going on with your local and networked printers and print servers. You’ll find specific information on the TechNet page, “Overview of print management.”

Performance Monitor: The Performance Monitor lets you view detailed information about your PC’s central processing unit (CPU), memory, hard disk, and network performance. Use this tool to view — either in real time or by analyzing logs — the effect any given piece of software has had on your system. You’ll find detailed information starting on the tool’s TechNet page.

Services: A typical Win7 setup has around 50 to 60 services running in the background, providing essential functions such as file serving, printing, error reporting, event logging, Web serving, encryption/decryption, and so on. The Services tool lets you start, stop, and otherwise manage these essential background programs. For a list of typical Win7 services, see Noel Carboni’s post in a TechNet Win7 IT Pro forum discussion.

System Configuration: Another great troubleshooting tool, System Configuration can help you track down problems that might prevent Windows from starting correctly. An MS Win7 Help & How-to page provides an overview.

Task Scheduler: Possibly one of the more familiar Administrative Tools,
Task Scheduler lets you schedule automated tasks that Windows will perform at specific times or when certain events occur. You can add your own tasks or modify those that Windows sets up on its own. Look for detailed information starting on the TechNet “Task Scheduler overview” page.

Windows Firewall with Advanced Security: This tool lets you configure advanced firewall settings on both local computers and remote, networked systems. There’s good general information on an MS Win7 Help & How-to page, plus more details on a related TechNet page.

Windows PowerShell Modules: Windows PowerShell is an evolved command-line and scripting tool (the successor to the old DOS-based batch language). It lets you manage and automate many administrative tasks. TechNet has a ton of information available on its “Windows PowerShell” page.

Looking ahead to future details

Now you know how to put Administrative Tools on your Start Menu, and you have an idea of what these tools are for.

Periodically, in upcoming issues, I’ll show how to use the generally most beneficial of these tools in more detail, with illustrated step-by-step examples — in the best Windows Secrets tradition.

When the series is complete, you’ll be able to use Windows’ Administrative Tools with authority!

Exploring Windows’ Administrative Tools: Part 1

Feedback welcome: Have a question or comment about this story? Post your thoughts, praise, or constructive criticisms in the WS Columns forum.

Windows XP Survival Guide: Keep your XP system running for the long haul is made up of our best stories on maintaining and troubleshooting Microsoft's most successful operating system to date. Topics include maintaining and troubleshooting XP, and living in an XP/Win7 world.

A few days ago, Microsoft’s Steven Sinofsky published a FAQ concerning Windows Media Center and DVD playback in Windows 8.

According to Sinofsky, only buyers of Windows 8 Pro will be able to include Windows Media Center and its DVD playback software with their operating system.

If you upgrade to, and want to stick with, a “lesser” Windows 8 edition but still want DVD playback software, you must acquire it from a third-party software manufacturer. Check out the Lounge community’s thoughts on this turn of events and add your own opinions. More.

The following links are this week’s most interesting Lounge threads, including several new questions that you may be able to provide responses to:

If you’re not already a Lounge member, use the quick registration form to sign up for free. The ability to post comments and take advantage of other Lounge features is available only to registered members.

If you’re already registered, you can jump right in to today’s discussions in the Lounge.

The Lounge Life column is a digest of the best of the WS Lounge discussion board. Kathleen Atkins is Associate Editor of Windows Secrets.

We at Windows Secrets obviously don’t use Wacky Web Week to demonstrate our devotion to best practices. By their nature, best practices are rarely wacky. But this week, we’ve found a driving test both devilishly pedagogical and too delicious to keep to ourselves.

We’re revisiting Europe for this experience. The town squares and roads in Belgium are serving up spectacles. Play the video

System Restore and Backup follow-on question

Reader Cliff solved a backup problem using the information in the April 25 item, “When to reduce System Restore’s disk space,” but he then had a follow-on question.

“I was having trouble with Windows Backup under Windows 7. I was getting a shadow copy error.

“Thanks to your column in this week’s Windows Secrets concerning space allocation for backup and restore, I changed my allocation from one percent to 12 percent and then successfully backed up my hard drive with Windows Backup.

“But I have a question about the backup. When I let Windows choose what to back up, it backed up my user data and then did a system image backup. I know that when I do backups in the future it will back up only new files and those that have changed. If I want to restore a modified file, does it show only the latest file or does it keep several copies of that file?”

Glad the article helped, Cliff!

Indeed, your backups will fail if the size of your backup exceeds whatever space you’ve allocated. The same thing can happen when a disk gets too full — if there’s not enough space to store the backup, the backup fails.

Last week, in a widely anticipated move, Microsoft officially started tolling the bell for Windows Live’s demise.

Although the current Windows Live apps will be available for the foreseeable future, they’re now orphans — soon to be replaced by new Windows 8 Metro apps.

Live applications give way to Metro apps

Windows 8, which seems to be on track for an October release, will usher in scores of new programs, new ways of working, and completely new methods for interacting with that old war horse we call Windows. I’ve already written about several improvements in Windows 8 — Storage Spaces (Jan. 12) and UEFI secure boot (Jan. 19), among others — and I’ve lambasted several parts I don’t like, most notably the Metro Start screen (March 8) and the confusing array of versions (April 25).

The Windows Live series just doesn’t fit into Windows 8’s new paradigm. Previously, as Windows evolved, older programs still worked comfortably in newer Windows interfaces. But the future is Metro, and it requires applications that match its immersive experience.

For example, Windows Live Mail (which replaced XP’s Outlook Express and Vista’s Windows Mail) will be retired to the old-bits farm and replaced by Metro Mail, which will run only on Metro. “Retired” is the key word here — Windows Live Mail won’t immediately disappear; you’ll probably be able to download it until the last Windows 7 machine bites the dust in 2055. But Microsoft isn’t going to put any more effort into Windows Live Mail. It’s being orphaned, just as Outlook Express and Windows Mail were orphaned before it.

Microsoft laid out this transition last week in a Building Windows 8 blog post titled, entertainingly, “Cloud services for Windows 8 and Windows Phone: Windows Live, reimagined.” The, uh, reimagination includes a chart that shows Windows 8’s new applications and services and how they relate to the current Windows Live apps.

Like it or not, this is the way of the future.

Where the Windows Live programs came from

Woody Leonhard is a Windows Secrets senior editor and a senior contributing editor at InfoWorld. His latest book, the comprehensive 1,080-page Windows 8 All-In-One For Dummies, delves into all the Win8 nooks and crannies. His many writings tell it like it is — whether Microsoft likes it or not.

One bulletin alone has eight patches to combat the Duqu malware — plan some time to work through this crop.

MS12-034

Using The Force to beat back Duqu

Okay, I must confess I’m a “Star Wars” fan. This month we’re going to need The Force to fight our way through the numerous patches listed in MS12-034. This is a massive, multipart update for Windows, Silverlight, .NET, and Office to defend ourselves from the Duku malware. (This threat is not named after Count Dooku, the archvillain in “Star Wars Episode II.” The name is derived from related files with a .dq file extension.) Still, I’m ready to call on Obi Wan Kenobi as my one hope of getting all these updates installed without issues.

The Duqu threat was first patched five months ago, according to a detailed history in a May 8 Microsoft Security Research & Defense blog. At that time, the patch was focused on malicious Office documents. Since then, Microsoft has found other applications that use the faulty code (gdiplus and ogl.dll).

The bulletin states that updating the Duqu defenses caused a cascade of related fixes — and a potential update failure. MS Support article 2686509 details what to do if KB 2686509 (for Windows XP and Server 2003) fails to install, as shown in Figure 1. But the instructions can be confusing, telling you to remove a faulty keyboard-layout log file. I couldn’t find that file, so I hope Microsoft comes out with a Fixit before the next Patch Tuesday. (The patch backports a keyboard-layout fix from Vista. If you’ve lived without it this long, a few more days probably won’t hurt.)

Figure 1. A failed keyboard-layout update

What to do: Pass on the .NET updates included in MS12-034. And delay installing KB 2686509 until the installation issue is clarified. Install the rest.

Here’s a summary of the numerous patches included in this massive update, plus my recommendations:

Susan Bradley is a Small Business Server and Security
MVP, a title
awarded by Microsoft to independent experts who do not work for the company. She's also a partner in a California CPA firm.

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Trademarks: Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. The Windows Secrets series of books is published by Wiley Publishing Inc. The Windows Secrets Newsletter, WindowsSecrets.com, WinFind, Windows Gizmos, Security Baseline, Patch Watch, Perimeter Scan, Wacky Web Week, the Logo Design (W, S or road, and Star), and the slogan Everything Microsoft Forgot to Mention all are trademarks and service marks of iNET Interactive. All other marks are the trademarks or service marks of their respective owners.